Blaze destroys mobile home near Vanceboro

A firefighter works his way through debris in the living room inside a mobile home that was destroyed by fire Wednesday on Spring Meadows Road.

Bill Hand/Sun Journal

By Bill Hand, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Wednesday, August 20, 2014 at 03:50 PM.

VANCEBORO | A Vanceboro woman lost her home when it was destroyed by fire late Wednesday morning.

The mobile home, located at 165 Spring Meadows Road, was gutted by the 11:30 a.m. fire.

The singlewide home was owned by Frank Belfance, but was occupied by his daughter Leslie Belfance and her two dogs. She was not home during the fire, and the dogs were not injured.

Members of the rural community took action to help when the fire began. Crystal Carter, a neighbor, said: “I was feeding my dogs and ... a lady hollered at me that the trailer was on fire.”

She went into the backyard of the burning mobile home to get a dog that was in the back yard.

Two other neighbors, Derek Hayden and Cornelius Lewis, were riding a bicycle and a moped in the area when they heard someone shout that the trailer was on fire. Hayden said the two kicked in the front door and shouted to make sure no one was home.

“By the time we got to there, the glass on the screen door was all black” from the heat, Hayden said. Lewis added that he saw fire in the living room.

VANCEBORO | A Vanceboro woman lost her home when it was destroyed by fire late Wednesday morning.

The mobile home, located at 165 Spring Meadows Road, was gutted by the 11:30 a.m. fire.

The singlewide home was owned by Frank Belfance, but was occupied by his daughter Leslie Belfance and her two dogs. She was not home during the fire, and the dogs were not injured.

Members of the rural community took action to help when the fire began. Crystal Carter, a neighbor, said: “I was feeding my dogs and ... a lady hollered at me that the trailer was on fire.”

She went into the backyard of the burning mobile home to get a dog that was in the back yard.

Two other neighbors, Derek Hayden and Cornelius Lewis, were riding a bicycle and a moped in the area when they heard someone shout that the trailer was on fire. Hayden said the two kicked in the front door and shouted to make sure no one was home.

“By the time we got to there, the glass on the screen door was all black” from the heat, Hayden said. Lewis added that he saw fire in the living room.

The two went around back and helped secure the dogs.

Ira Whitford, Craven County’s assistant fire marshal, said the blaze apparently started in the living room.